"So even the football viewers who don't know Memphis basketball are gonna stay tuned at least for the beginning part. It's a great opportunity for us."

Miami (1-0), coming off an 89-77 season-opening win over Jacksonville on Friday, advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals a season ago, losing to eventual national champion Duke, 77-74. The Hurricanes had finished 12th in the ACC during the regular season but upended fifth-seeded Wake Forest and fourth-seeded Virginia Tech in the ACC tourney.

Miami's strength is its backcourt, a unit that includes sophomore guard Durand Scott, a 2010 All-ACC tourney first-team selection, and junior guard Malcolm Grant. The duo combined to score 43 points Friday in the Hurricanes' win over Jacksonville, with Grant contributing a career-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

"Miami's a good team. They're a top-four team in the ACC. I think they're a potential NCAA tournament team," Pastner said. "They are really, really good. They've got guys in the backcourt. They're athletic. This will be a great test for us."

No. 19 Memphis (1-0) wasn't tested in a 104-40 season-opening victory over Centenary on Friday in which 11 Tigers played 13 or more minutes and five scored in double figures. The Tigers outscored the Gentlemen, 38-16, in the paint and got 63 points from the bench.

Memphis junior forward Wesley Witherspoon said the Tigers' depth and versatility should deter opponents from planning to stop just one player this season.

"I mean, every play you never know what's gonna happen. There could be a 3. There could be an alley-oop. There could be a nasty dunk," Witherspoon said. "We just have so many different athletes on the floor that can convert. You never know who's going to do what."

Witherspoon was part of a 2008-09 Tigers team that beat UMass, 80-58, in an 11 p.m. contest that kicked off the cable network's first College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.

"It's different. It's very different," Witherspoon said of the 11 p.m. start. "Leading up to the game, your whole body sync is thrown off. You're used to doing things a certain way, and you have to switch it all up. It's just like playing an early-morning game."

Pastner ran the team through late-night practices Saturday and Sunday to get the players ready for tonight's late tip-off.

"It can help you somewhat adjust to a gametime that your body might not be used to," said Pastner, who, for the second straight game, is keeping his starting lineup a mystery. "But I don't know if it even really matters.

"In the end, once the ball's tipped and there's 18,000 people in the stadium, the adrenaline's flowing and you've gotta produce."